I have to admit, I really love the bushveld. I would pick it over the beach any day. And I’m lucky that my husband feels exactly the same. We would hardly ever have a holiday where we didn’t agree on where we should go. Crystal Springs is usually one of those easy choices when we want to break away. Not only is it not that far of a drive (4hours) from Johannesburg, but it’s so relaxing and beautiful too. Not to mention that we’ve been there more than a few times already.

We usually book one of the Lodges close to the cliff with beautiful views. I love waking up to the misty mountain views.

It’s close to the old mining village Pilgrim’s Rest. We’ll go have breakfast pancakes at the Silver Spoon Restuarant in Graskop and then go to the Royal Hotel to have a few drinks and walk down the street full of shops.

Reading the newspaper, looking all hot and stuff.

The cool thing about Crytal Springs is that it has a lot of different pools, a spa, a restaurant and bar all on site. If we feel like not having a relaxing night in, we go have pizza in the restaurant and then go have a few drinks in the bar. Usually, while we are on holiday there, I always book an appointment at the spa. Be it to do my nails, or get a massage.

We had a braai almost every night, because well… my husband is the best braaier but also the sunsets were amazing. On one of the nights, there was a power outage at the resort and we actually enjoyed it. The stars and the sky was absolutely something to experience. It’s not something you get to see often when you live in the city.

On this specific holiday, we took my wheelchair with, as I was starting to need it more. Although all the lodges we have stayed in thus far are not wheelchair friendly, it was quite easy to get around inside, with the help of my husband. I don’t think I’ll exchange the lodge with an astounding view for a wheelchair friendly lodge/cabin/chalet. But that’s just me. Wherever we had a few steps to use, the staff was so helpful and accommodating.

Rammstein is my all time favourite band! At the top of my list. I can listen to their music on repeat! I was lucky enough to have seen them live at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg in February 2011. They delivered one of the best live performances I’ve seen. I clearly remember the goosebumps, the atmosphere, the people and my facebook status the next morning along the lines of “Saw my favourite band LIVE last night and if I die today, I die happy”. It was one of the highlights of my life. You get the point right?

Well here is some very awesome facts about them that you probably didn’t know.

Mein Teil is about Armin Meiwes, the cannibal. Armin had a lover who had the same cannibalism fetish as he did. His lover’s dream was to be eaten and Armin’s dream was to eat someone. They met up and decided to eat his lover’s penis first. Armin tried to chew and bite it off but that didn’t work. So they chopped it off. His lover eventually bled to death in the bathtub. Armin had his first “meal” being a steak from his lover’s back. He lived off his lover’s “meat” for 10 months and apparently consumed over 20kg’s of meat and flesh. Rammstein was in the recording studio and saw the headlines and that is where “Mein Teil” was written. Mein Teil is German slang for “My penis”/”My Part”.

Till performing Mein Teil

During the making of the music video for Feuer Frei, the band members burnt their backs and eyebrows from the pyrotechnics. And had to perform this more than a few times to get the perfect shot for the movie Triple X.

The Engel music video was inspired by the movie “From Dusk Till Dawn”.

In Keine Lust, it took 12 makeup artists over a month to produce the costumes/fat suits for the “obese” band members.

“Mutter” is German for Mother. This song is reportedly about the bad/non-existant relationship Till had with his mother. I’ve read that the depressing lyrics describe a character’s plan to kill both the mother “who never gave birth to him” and himself, which he carries out. But ends instead with him still being alive and no better off than before. There is a video on youtube about a children’s choir singing this song, which everyone oddly found very cute… Check it out. I’m under the impression that they might not know what they are singing about. Haha!

Rammstein released a metal case with 6 pink dildos inside, each of which corresponds to a member of the band. This case also comes with some lube and handcuffs. I’ll spare you the pictures on my blog, but would recommend you check it out because it is kinda amusing and funny. Nothing says “I thought really hard about your birthday/christmas gift” more than a box of dildos. When asked in interviews who the biggest one belonged to, all of them claimed it is theirs. So I guess we will never know.

Till Lindemann was a participant in the European Junior Swimming Championships in Florence in 1978. He was shortlisted to participate in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow but discontinued the sport.

Rammstein was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 42nd-annual Grammy Awards in 1999.

This is what Till had to say about where they got the band name “Rammstein”: “The name came from the big catastrophe that happened in Ramstein, which is a place in Germany, where the American airforce had a flight show. They crashed and over 80 people got hurt and killed. So the first song, actually, was about that accident. And then there was always like a cause when they’d say: “Ramstein, Ramstein!” So it came into our head and it stayed there. We just changed the spelling slightly because Ramstein is actually spelt with one “m”. It also became somewhat of a provocation, by just repeating it, it kind of became a symbol for us, an anthem.”

Rammstein has never lost a member since the day they started the band in 1994. Till Lindemann, Richard Z. Kruspe, Paul H. Landers, Oliver “Ollie” Riedel, Christoph “Doom” Schneider and Christian “Flake” Lorenz have always been the members of the band.

Rein Raus is about sex. Lead singer Till refers to himself as the rider and the woman as the horse.

Sonne has been described as the adult version of Snow White. The dwarves worship Snow White but have to work really hard to supply her with gold for her addiction, where she eventually dies of an overdose from gold cocaine.

Till Lindemann has this awesome way of headbanging! So much so, that there’s even a word for it, TILL HAMMER. I wish I could explain how cool this is, but I can’t. I could unfortunately only find this fan video but I love it!

Are you convinced that I’m a big Rammstein fan yet? If not, below is what our wedding “save the date” cards looked like. Me, with a Rammstein shirt and my hubby with a Metallica shirt.

Seeing them Live in Germany is at the top of my bucket list. Something I have to do before I die. I don’t care how old I get or how many times people tell me this band is weird, I will be a metalhead till I’m old and grey, on my deathbed, probably requesting someone to play me one more song before I die.